Captain Abu Raed goes for the OSCAR

It's official...

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FOR THE 1st TIME, JORDAN JOINS OSCAR RACE

Amman, 03/09/08 - For the first time, Jordan is officially joining the race for the Oscar’s Awards with the submission of the feature-length film “Captain Abu Raed”, by Amin Matalqa.

An independent Submission Committee, recently constituted by the Royal Film Commission– Jordan according to the rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, convened on the 31st of August and selected the film “Captain Abu Raed” to represent Jordan at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, due to be held on 22 February 2009 in Hollywood. The Committee, which is renewable yearly, includes eight members who are prominent players in the Jordanian film and television communities.

H.E. Mr. Munir Nassar, Chairman of the Oscar Submission Committee for Jordan, commented saying: “These are exciting times. The mere fact that a Jordanian film will be submitted for the first time is an indication that the film industry in Jordan has matured”.

Written and directed by Jordanian filmmaker Amin Matalqa, Captain Abu Raed - starring Nadim Sawalha and Rana Sultan – tells a gripping story of an airport janitor who is mistaken for an airline pilot by a group of children living in his modest neighborhood. He begins to weave fantastical stories in order to offer them inspiration and hope. The film was financed by Paper & Pen Films of Jordan and produced by David Pritchard president of Gigapix Studios along with Amin Matalqa and Laith Majali.

Captain Abu Raed has played for several consecutive weeks in Amman commercial theaters and won a number of festival international awards among which: Dramatic World Cinema Audience Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Best Actor Award (Nadim Sawalha) at the 2007 Dubai International Film Festival, Best Actor (Nadim Sawalha) and Best Actress (Rana Sultan) Awards at the 2008 Newport Beach Film Festival; Best Director at Seattle’s Golden Space Needle Award (Amin Matalqa) at the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival; Best Narrative Feature World Cinema at the 2008 Maui Film Festival, Best First Feature at the 2008 South Africa’s Durban International Film Festival and Audience Award for Best Fiction Film and the jury Award for Best of Fest Fiction Film at the 2008 Traverse City Film Festival. The film is being represented worldwide by Fortissimo Films.